The present invention relates to electronic data processing, and more particularly concerns a system and method for providing on-line documentation for interactive application programs.
There is a growing belief in the data-processing community that the same data processor which executes interactive programs requiring documentation should also provide that documentation to the user of the application: that the processor should both perform the program and guide its performance.
The most common form of on-line documentation is "on-line help," or "help text," which mostly provides reference-manual type of information available at the touch of a dedicated or programmable-function key. Some large interactive application programs provide "context-sensitive" help text, in which the help facility detects which particular part of the application the user is involved with when he presses the Help key. The facility then automatically selects a portion of the help text appropriate to the operation the user wishes to perform. Context-sensitive help may operate on several levels, providing general information about an entire display screen, or zooming in to more specific help when the user places a cursor in a particular area of the screen dealing with the aspect of the display he wishes to study in more detail.
Many forms of context-sensitive on-line information exist. For example, D.A. Charland has proposed ("Online Documentation: Promises and Problems," in Proceedings, 31st International Technical Communication Conference, Apr. 29-May 2, 1984, Society for Technical Communication, pages WE-158 to WE-161) the use of small, linked information modules for this purpose. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. application "On-Line Documentation for Data-Processing Programs," Ser. No. 790,705, filed Oct. 24, 1985 by R. Sladowski, et al., shows a method for creating and using a help document which can be used both as context-sensitive help and as a stand-alone, freely browseable on-line manual for an application program.
Another conventional method for extracting data from on-line information involves the entry of keywords by the user. A search facility then searches through the on-line text, or a relevant part of it, to find the portion containing the selected keyword.
Again, many forms of on-line document searching are available. One form, described by P. Orwick, et al. ("DOMAIN/DELPHI(tm): Retrieving Documents Online," in CHI '86Proceedings, Apr. 1986, pages 114-121), allows a user to enter a search word or phrase and to specify manually which portions of the information he wishes to include. The search finds text in the specified portion which contain all the entered words in the phrase. Another form, and presented by J. Walker (Online Documentation and help Systems, Symbolics, Inc., Apr. 5, 1987, especially pages 61-64), allows either context-sensitive help or keyword-entry help from the same on-line information. Although multiple search words can be entered at the same time, the search facility finds the text which contains all of those words--that is, it performs an "and" search.
Although many different approaches have been implemented to provide useful on-line information, particularly help text, the general opinion is that users still find it unwieldy and cumbersome to use, and they must frequently refer to the printed documentation accompanying the application program. See, for example, the recent article "Read My Mind: What Users Want From Online Information," IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Vol. PC-30, June 1987, pages 87-90, discusses the reactions of users to many of the conventional approaches. The fact remains, users do not make nearly the full use of on-line information; and the problem seems to lie in the documentation, not in the users.